Behind The Shot: Photography Meetup and Motorcycle LightPainting

Last summer, one of my photography meetup groups hosted their annual picnic event in New Jersey. This time they selected the J. Own Grundy Park at the Exchange Place in Jersey City. These picnics are always a lot of fun, you get to meet and socialize with other photography aficionados, and I always learn something new. This is my second year attending. 

At this event I got the chance to meet people from China, Australia, Canada, India and Croatia who are members of the group. It's like they say, the ethnic and cultural diversity is what attracts millions of visitors to the NYC area each year. 

Granted, the Exchange Place is one of my favorite locations to photograph the NYC skyline, especially at night. Last time I visited was last year, for the 9-11 anniversary of the attacks. 

For this trip, my goal was to capture a better light-painted image of my bike using the NYC skyline in the background, either of Jersey City or Hoboken, NJ. I recognize I am my own worst critic, so as expected, I wasn't happy with a light-painted photograph of my bike that I shot last summer. 

I scouted the area in the Exchange Place looking for a dark location to shoot the picture, to no avail. So I decided to see if I could find an empty parking lot near Pier 13 in Hoboken where car enthusiasts photograph often. 

After riding my bike around for a while, I found a perfect dark spot near Frank Sinatra Drive and 14th street in Hoboken; between the Sovereign Garage and Hudson Cat Sailing Charter. It was around midnight, and only a few souls ventured out to walk their dogs near the Hoboken Waterfront Walkway. I had the place all to myself for the next 45 minutes, so I took pictures to my heart's content.

The next day during editing, I noticed I had the bike image I was shooting for, but was not thrilled with the skyline background of NYC and the Empire State Building. The image didn't have the elusive "wow effect" I was looking for. Did I mention I am my own worst critic? 

A quick solution was to create a photo composite made up of two pictures blended and merged together. One image was of the Philadelphia night skyline image I took last year, and the other one was the lightpainted picture of my bike in Hoboken, NJ. I am very pleased with the end result. 

If you like to see a bigger version of this image, click HERE.